O'Brien, come on up here and I will show you some beer. The reason most Canadians don't like American beer is that the brewing styles are different: Canadian is more British in style, American more German. German beers tend to be lighter in body, which means less flavour (yes, flavOUr). The worst American beers are thin rancid bitter afterbrews to my tastebuds.

Ah, ya missed a real shitty cleveland treasure...schmidt's. My boyfriend worked at the plant on Quincy. Every friday the employees could buy cases of the mislabled, not up to QC standards beer in the returnable bottles. Two bucks a case, I think it was. We didn't need to buy furniture, our house was decorated in early Schmidts cases. The real bottom of the bottom was the yearly not-for-public-sale of their bock beer. the memory makes me shiver...

C'mon Erin, that commercial looks like it's from the 1950s. You can't possibly remember it!

As for the taste of beer, well, people hate it when I say this, but I drink it strictly for the buzz. I'm not sure what the point is otherwise. I mean, when you were 13 and you and your buddies snuck some beer to drink behind the garage without your parent's knowledge, did you first say, "Oh, boy, I bet this'll taste better than Pepsi!"

That's just my opinion, of course. I know if you drink a lot of it, you eventually develop a liking for the taste. I have a friend who used to be a very heavy drinker, primarily beer, but whatever else was availiable, too. He's been in AA for ten years now, but you know what he drinks? O'douls. That's nonalcoholic beer, in case you never heard of it. So he's obviously developed a taste.

No, I don't remember this commercial exactly, but that wasn't really my point. Just was posting a quirky old beer commercial. I do remember some Mabel, although I don't think she was animated. And I sure as hell remember all those Black Label bottles.

This is like the "beer memories" post.

I do think that nothing tastes better than an icy beer on a hot hot day. Trick is to keep it to one or two.

When I was over there last most people drinking cold glasses of fizzy water with a hint of alcohol.

It almost looked a little bit like beer in the same way that Sarah Palin almost looks a little bit like a sane human being rather than a nutjob who would nuke the entire world several times over within a minute of actually getting into the Whitehouse (seriously, thanks for not voting her in you guys, we all owe you a pint for that one for sure! But then again you do allow her to rule Alaska, and that has to earn you like negative ten bazillion points, so lets just call it even, yeah?)

Anyways, why is it that Americans water their beer down so much?

Have you never tried Guiness?

Stella Artois perhaps?

Heineken?

Tetleys?

Even American whiskey is watery. I tried Southern Comfort once; the stuff was velvety, seriously! It sort of slid down my throat like liquid cashmere! What the heck is that at all about?!

Everyone knows that real, proper, whiskey should hurt. It ain't called the 'fire water' for nothing!

Out west we have Rainer Beer. They used to have a commercial when I was young that went like this. Raaaaaaa neeerrrrrrrrrrr Beeerrrrrrrrrrrrrr to the tune of a motorcycle shifting gears as it rides up a mountain road. Presumably in the Rainer Mountains. Add that to your list of shity beerrrrrrrr. Oh and Keystone!

A few points.Some of us can, have, and will drink Guinness...pint for pint, centiliter for centiliter with anyone. Stella may be old and famous, but its not any heavier than most American macro brews. It is, however, a generally better beer. Same for Heineken.

That said, we do indeed brew a bloody ton of shite beer. I think Benjamin, Adorno, and Horkheimer have a missing essay on this.

Southern Comfort, as you'll note, isn't whiskey. It's a "whiskey-flavored liqueur". Look up hows its made...you'll see its supposed to be sweet. Not endorsing it, just pointing out that its not actually a whiskey.

While the Anglos may have given the world whiskey, we on this side of the pond improved on said spirit. Its called BOURBON. Its heavy, its mean. Its ours. Yes, have some.

For a time at OU, a returnable case of Tap Beer (brewed in Columbus, I believe), could be had for $4.99.

That was some shitty beer.

Then there was Red, White & Blue, which looked vaguely familiar to PBR, and tasted like it too - shitty.

How about Buckhorn, and anyone who was anyone rode the Goebel train!

Shitty beers all.

We settled on Old Swill, and then during my stint on Chicago (where Old Swill could be had or $7.99 a case at the Jewel a couple of blocks) we ambled over the Stroh's (the white can).

Stroh's and Old Swill are shitty, but they rule.

Then when I landed in Seattle, I discovered Rainier Beer (some at the Comet Tavern on Pine Street called it "Vitamin R"). It was a local brew (no longer), and boy was that shitty.

As was Keystone.

As was Milwaukee's Best.

A lady friend hipped me to Henry Weinhard, a pretty decent and only mildly shitty beer.

Then I discovered Red Hook (local), THomas Kemper and Pyramid, and Widmer, and Sierra Nevada, and the uber righteous Arrogant Bastard Ale (brewed in San Diego), and I've been a microbrew snob ever since. I've tried to remain loyal to my Cleveland shitty beer roots, but I just can't do it. Microbrews taste so good, and shitty beer is...well, shitty.

For a good winter drink that turns those lake effect winds into church hymns, I recommend a Swim the River, a concoction which Jonas and I have discussed over the years. One shot American Honey (a Wild Turkey bourbon liqueur), one shot Jim Beam, one shot root beer.

My father once brought home a can of Old Frothingslosh. I didn't really foam at the bottom. It just said that on the can. I guess you could call it tounge-in-cheek beer (just take a gander at bathing beauty Miss Frothingslosh, whose picture was on the can)

Oh, man, I'm old enough to remember Billy Beer. Never drank it, but it was named after, and hawked by Billy Carter, a forgotten figure today, he was President Jimmy Carter's stereotypical redneck brother.

Utah is the capitol of 3.2 beer. You can only get full strength stuff in State run liquor stores or private bars. Ironically, I know some people that always pick up several cases when they are in Utah for the lower alcohol content. If your are a beer nut, you can drink more of it when it's 3.2. Go figure!

Bud and many macros upped their alcohol content towards the 5.0 range when the fad of "ice" beers took off. Thank you, Canada.

So, according these guys (http://www.realbeer.com/edu/health/calories.php), Bud Light is at 4.2%, and Bud "Heavy" is at 5.0%.

In fact you'll note all but a small handful of beers have anything under 4.0%

Interestingly, Michalob's "Ultra" (ultra shite), their lo-cal beer, is 4.2%. Alcohol, as you know, has a ton of calories because is basically mutant sugar. So, they put that crappy beer in smaller containers (smaller than 12oz) and water it down, instead of reducing the booze. Hmm.

Yeah, you're right Stella is light but then again its a Belgian beer with a French sounding name and hence poncey.

Which brings us neatly to Bourbon. I put it to you that the very suggestion that its an improvement on Whiskey is a kind of blasphemy. Americans just don't do proper booze, this is the country that invented the appletini for goodness sake!

"Anglos" being short hand for people who live on small islands and still feel some sense of superiority over those to whom they lost a country. I suppose that's not very specific, historically speak tho, is it?

"American just don't do proper booze". Indeed, the appletini. Is that better or worse than the contribution of Pimms and other such "lets make booze taste like something else" beverages that have now invaded this continent in the form of the ubiquitous "malternatives" (Mike Lemonade, Twisted Tea, etc.)? Yes indeed, that you very much for that.

My objection to "Anglos" has nothing to do with it not being historically specific. It's just wrong. The English don't make whiskey. Simple as.

The English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish are all very different groups of people, I'm sorry if you don't like it, but that's just how it is.

If you want a word to use when referring to people who live in Britain then may I suggest you consider trying "British"? We've been using it for the last few centuries now and it seems to work pretty well.

As for Pimms, well that's all about context. If you sat outside a quaint English country pub with a nice big jug of Pimms on a summer day then you'd get it. Outside of that context it wouldn't work.

I've actually never heard of mike lemonade or twisted tea? I guess that these are American drinks that have sneakily dolled themselves up in British gladrags in an attempt to capture a bit of dastardly old-world charm..?

This will be my last response to you because I do not want to foul up this blog with an argument but at the same time I really can't bring myself to let you have the last word (very immature I know).

Now listen mate, and listen good:

I. Am. Welsh.

Surprisingly enough, I know how to refer to my own nationality, and I am telling you, now, in a very straightforward manner, that the word to use is British.

I know that you're not trying to be insulting, but the word "Anglo" has a number of very negative connotations with regards to welsh people, it is something of a racial slur, and I object to it very strongly. I'm sorry if the history of my people is inconvenient for you but nonetheless I must insist that you do not refer to me as an "Anglo".

As far your brand of hegemony remark. The Empire rolled up 60 years ago. Long before I was even born. I do not accept responsibility for events that took place before my birth. I wasn't there and I wasn't calling the shots.

Furthermore, in the last 60 years Britain has changed considerably, it is now a modern liberal democracy.

There is an old saying amongst my people that a man is truly known by that which he hates.

I find it very revealing you choose to hate a nation that widely regarded as a responsible and positive force in this world.

Now, regarding whiskey; well done. You've managed to find an example of an English distillery. Frankly I don't particular care. When you say offer someone a glass of whiskey it is assumed that it will be Scottish or Irish. Whiskey is just not an English drink.